This Easter watch out for hopping bunnies, children and other distractions while you are driving.

Happy Easter from all of us at Car Insurance Guidebook!

Oh my, what a dangerous holiday Easter is! There are just so many scary things to watch out for, like your chocolate bunny taking revenge on you for biting off its ears.

Each holiday, Easter included, has its own dangers when it comes to driving. Some holidays have fireworks to watch out for and other holidays are a DUI nightmare. Easter, brings the danger of beautiful landscapes, energetic children, and new pets.

The Easter Drive

With the trees budding, the tulips and daffodils in their spring best, animals coming out of winter hibernation, and the return of the green grasses taking a drive on Easter day is a tradition for a lot of people. It is a chance to enjoy the beauty that spring has started to offer and to shake off the cold dreariness of winter from our minds.

While taking these drives, it is easy to get distracted at looking at everything around you, and distracted driving leads to accidents. If you find something that you want to enjoy, find a place to pull over safely so you can see it and not risk the chance of creating an accident. Also switch drivers from time to time so that everyone can get a chance to look around.

Easter Egg Hunts

After being stuck inside for most of the winter, the children are now loose and searching for Easter eggs. Take a minute and think back to when you were a child. Do you remember going on Easter egg hunts? Was there anything else on your mind other than finding those Easter eggs when you were on a hunt?

Well, the kids today are very much the same, and one-track minds don’t watch out for cars. This is why you as a driver need to be cautious when driving around on Easter day especially where children are present; you never know when a child is going to run out in front of you during the excitement of a hunt.

Also be cautious around parks that are holding Easter egg hunts that whole weekend. Parents have less control of their kids in large settings like that and in most cases would not be able to stop them before they ran out in front of you.

Easter Pets

Against all warnings parents still continue to give their children pet bunnies and chicks as Easter presents each year. Yes, they are cute and cuddly now but later that summer when that cute chick is now a full grown rooster waking you up as soon as the sun comes up it won’t look so cute anymore. In fact, I am pretty sure that it will start looking like dinner soon after you begin receiving your crack of dawn wake up calls and visits from the police after the neighbors complain.

But, I digress.

On Easter day, you need to look out for these little critters getting loose and running out in the street. Not only do you have to worry about them, more than likely there will be a child following close behind trying to catch it. And again, since they are not paying attention to you, you need to pay attention to them.

Now that you have been warned about the dangers of driving of Easter and you are going to be an especially attentive driver that day, so your insurance doesn’t go up, you can now relax. In fact, why don’t you go and enjoy the rest of your chocolate Easter bunny before it takes its revenge for its missing ears.

Bringing out a car in storage requires a little planning to do it safely.

Take your time bring out a car in storage.

The weather is warming up and it is time to bring that car in storage out to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air once again. Before you do though, there are a couple of things that need your attention to make sure that this is all done safely, with little mess, and legally.

Check for Critters in the Car in Storage

All kinds of critters like to make their way into a car in storage and make themselves convenient little homes. You just never know what you are going to find.

To save yourself the trouble of having to clean up a mess later, it would be a good idea to check the engine and under the car. Just take a flashlight and check these areas for uninvited guests before you turn on the vehicle.

Make Sure The Car in Storage’s Parts Still Work

Anything can happen while a car is in storage. Tires can go flat, brittle hoses may finally break when you turn the car on again, or any number of different things could have rusted if the car was not stored properly. Before you plan on taking a drive give the car a once over to make sure everything looks okay.

Check the exterior of the car for anything that looks damaged, and take a look under the hood. Even take the car for a spin around the block to make sure everything is working well before you take it too far from home. Moving the vehicle will also give you a chance to take a look at where the vehicle has been parked when it was being stored, so that you can check if there are any signs of fluids leaking.

Adding Back Insurance Coverage for a Car in Storage

Before you go anywhere, you need to call your insurance company or agent and check the insurance coverage you have on the car in storage. Most people remove everything but comprehensive coverage from vehicles that are put in storage to save money.

After all, if you aren’t driving the vehicle, you don’t have to legally carry liability coverage. There is not a very high chance that you are going to hit something with a car that you aren’t driving, so you don’t need collision coverage. And medical coverages, as well as rental car coverage just don’t make much sense to have either.

But now that you taking out this car in storage to drive it again you need to start adding coverage back so that you are driving legally and have enough protection.

The 2013 Volvo XC60 is one vehicle where you definitely get what you paid for.

The 2013 Volvo XC60

The 2013 Volvo XC60 is a higher priced vehicle that starts at over $34,000 for the base model and runs up to almost $49,000. But, it is worth the price for the sleek, good looking vehicle you get, as well as the astounding safety ratings it has earned.

Recalls for the 2013 Volvo XC60

Safety Recall information:

“VOLVO IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2013 S60 AND XC60 VEHICLES. A MANUFACTURING DEFECT WITHIN THE SUPPLEMENTAL RESTRAINT SYSTEM (SRS) CONTROL UNIT MAY LEAD TO AN INADVERTENT DEPLOYMENT OF THE SEAT BELT PRETENSIONER AND/OR INFLATABLE CURTAIN.

Consequence: IF THE SEAT BELT PRETENSIONER AND/OR INFLATABLE SIDE CURTAIN DEPLOY WITHOUT CAUSE, THE DRIVER COULD BE DISTRACTED AND THE DRIVER’S VISIBILITY COULD BE REDUCED, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.

Corrective Action: THESE VEHICLES HAVE NOT BEEN SOLD AND THE SRS CONTROL UNIT WILL BE REPLACED PRIOR TO THE CARS BEING SOLD. OWNERS MAY CONTACT VOLVO AT 1-800-458-1552.”

Safety Ratings for the 2013 Volvo XC60

The 2013 Volvo XC60 is a “Top Safety Pick +” with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This means that it qualified to be named as one of the safest of the safe vehicles after testing.

To qualify for this high safety honor with the IIHS a vehicle has to be tested in all 5 of their accident tests frontal crash test, small front corner crash test, rollover crash test, rear crash test and side impact crash test. It also has to get at least a “good” rating in 4 of the 5 crash tests, and an acceptable rating in the 5th (small front corner crash test).

Insurance Thoughts on the 2013 Volvo XC60

The insurance rates are going to be rather nice for the drivers that purchase this vehicle. Being a “Top Safety Pick +” will keep the PIP and medical payments premiums down. The fact that it is not exactly a vehicle that is associated with reckless drivers, and would not have a disturbing accident statistics behind it will keep the premiums for liability down also.

The only coverages that you may see a little higher are the comprehensive and collision coverages. Because the price of the vehicle runs from $34,350 to $48,950 the cost to repair any damages or pay out for a total loss will be higher than other similar model vehicles. However, the lower medical coverage premiums and liability coverage premiums may just balance out the premiums for the comprehensive and collision coverage.

For creative marketing gimmicks Arbella Insurance created an interesting one.

Commercial

Commercial opens with a couple walking down the sidewalk laughing and enjoying their cups of coffee. From behind them a guy driving a very interesting car pulls up and calls out to get their attention. The seats in the back of the car are not normal car seats, but a love seat like the one you would have in your house or apartment.

Driver: Pssst, hey! Yeah, you two. You guys heard about this car-partment thing?

The guy and girl look at each other confused.

Girl: Excuse me?

Driver: Yeah, it’s only like the most amazing insurance coverage ever. You get your car insurance from Arbella, right, and then they throw in renter’s insurance for like $3.00 a week. Is that crazy or what? Hahaha.

Guy: Sounds pretty great actually.

Driver: What will they think of next?

Driver drives off.

Driver: (as he is driving off he waves and yells) Tell your friends.

Announcer: Yep, it’s a big deal.

Girl: (waving at the guy driving away) Thank you.

Announcer: Introducing carpartment insurance from Arbella. Sign up for car insurance and get renter’s for as little as 3 bucks a week. Arbella. Here for good.

What Arbella Insurance Is Trying to Do

Arbella Insurance is introducing a new product for those drivers that live in apartments. The commercial seems to be targeting the 20-somethings with the language that is used, the coffees in hand, and the actions of the actors. This specific group of drivers is the age group that is traditionally most likely to be living in an apartment, compared to older drivers that have purchased homes, so targeting this market is a good idea.

My Thoughts on This Arbella Insurance Commercial

Arbella Insurance may want to consider that with the recent recession we went through, there were a lot of people that lost their homes and are now living in apartments. So they may want to think about adding to this carpartment advertising introduction to appeal to a wider audience base that includes older drivers and drivers with families.

Arbella did do a good job in creating a memorable marketing prop with the car that was half an apartment and a car. Something memorable like that will make Arbella stick out when young people are calling around for insurance coverage.

Overall, I give this Arbella Insurance commercial one thumb up for good advertising methods, but also one thumb down because when the commercial ended I felt “meh” about the commercial as a whole.

Wawanesa’s new J.D. Power ranking is something to shout about, but they rather not.

Commercial

Commercial opens with two young people in a car and continues to show different drivers and families using their cars for their everyday routine, as well as having fun driving. As the announcer talks the commercial shows:

• an older driver standing by a car and the award that Wawanesa earned from J.D. Power
• a middle-aged couple taking a drive in their convertible
• a dad handing over the keys to the car to his teen daughter
• a woman and her dog sitting in the back of her antique truck that she uses to haul stuff for her garden
• a family unpacking groceries
• a young couple getting ready to go skiing
• finally a young man jumping over the door of the convertible he was in to impress the girl in the car.

Announcer: We’re Wawanesa Insurance, J.D. Power and Associates ranks us highest in customer satisfaction amongst auto insurers in California. We almost hired the loud lady that sells food choppers on TV to tell you that (shows the loud lady chef that sells food choppers on TV), but that’s not how we role.

We quietly give great rates to good drivers. Besides the best sales people are our own policy holders. After all, their referrals account for nearly half of our new business. So call now, please. Very personable quote specialists are standing by.

Commercial ends with the Wawanesa Insurance logo on the screen and the 4 different types of insurance they sell. Below that is the phone number for Wawanesa and “call now”.

What Wawanesa Is Trying To Do

Wawanesa is taking the high road and completely bypassing the whole price war that is so heavily focused on between insurance companies. Instead, they are focusing on one of the bigger things that cause drivers to switch insurance companies, their customer service.

They don’t make a big fuss out of it either. Instead, they quietly tell you that they won a J.D. Power customer service award which this award alone is enough to make many people switch. But by advertising it, they are trying to spark the interest of drivers that are not happy with the customer service at their own insurance company right now.

The icing on the customer service argument comes at the end when they basically tell you that their customer service is not only good enough to win an award, it is also so good that half their new business comes from word of mouth advertising. Word of mouth advertising is when a person is so happy with a product or a service that they tell everyone they know about it. Companies love this type of advertising, because it’s free.

And to get to the point that your service is so good that half of your business comes from this type of advertising means that you are very good at what you do.

My Thoughts on this Wawanesa Commercial

There are two types of insurance commercials that I like to watch (when I have to, I don’t watch insurance commercials for fun); the ones with humor and then the ones that spark a desire to go out and do something fun.

For me, this Wawanesa commercial falls into the latter. Seeing all these people having fun around and driving their cars makes me want to take a road trip. I honestly didn’t even think about insurance when I watched. My mind keyed in on the impressive customer service and all the fun the people were having with their cars. At the end of the commercial I felt very calm and relaxed.

I think that Wawanesa put this commercial together beautifully and I am giving it two thumbs up.